Forget the Sun
by vernajast
Summary: Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body. YonKaka, NaruSasu, Team 7 older.
1. Chapter 1

_**Obligatory Author's Note: **I think it's safe to say I will try and put out one chapter per week, or more if I end up finishing it faster. I expect 20 roughly 1000 word chapters, probably longer in the last half. Quantity subject to change. Your feedback is priceless, even if it's just to say you liked it. I hope you guys enjoy this; it's certainly a lot of fun to write! Thanks to the YonKaka and sasuxnaru comms on LJ for their encouragment, and as always, MoiyaHatake for reading and supporting. :) _

**Summary: **Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body.

**Setting: **Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old.

**Pairings/Characters: **NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)

* * *

**Forget the Sun, pt. 1  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

"Who are you?" It was the same question every day.

"A friend."

The man sitting beside the window smiled; the gaps in his teeth screamed for attention. Damn the person who ruined that beautiful face. "I like visitors. I don't get many."

"I know. That would be my fault. I'm sorry."

He was still smiling, but it was tense around the corners, folding in on itself. He couldn't keep up the forced levity. "You've told me that before. I've forgotten again, haven't I?"

"I'm sorry."

"And..." The man stood, crossing the room with his now familiar limp-step-limp. "...you were someone...I wanted to remember...right?"

"Y-yes." There was no unvoiced sob wrapped around the word, he lied to himself. "Yes, I would like to think so."

Stopping just before him, the man's shaking hand reached up to touch his cheek. "Son?" He hesitated before moving on. "Brother, cousin, friend, uncle, nephew..."

"No." The same questions, every time, and yet it hurt, again, every time. It hurt to see him like this. But he couldn't... "Just an idiot who doesn't know when to give up on you."

The other man's smile was sad when he whispered, "Lover, then."

Kakashi wondered if he'd have another fit this time or if he would slip into catatonia again. A whimsical part of his brain, thought long dead, allowed the briefest moment of hope to surface, that he would suddenly remember and...

"No, I don't know you." The others voice was strained, and he let his hand drop from Kakashi's cheek. "I don't know anything."

Slender, pale fingers slid through dirty, stringy blond hair, and Kakashi whispered, "I'm sorry."

The man threw a punch, missed, yelled, "Stop it!! You keep saying that! As if it was your fault that I can't--"

Every time he threw a punch and _missed_, Kakashi's heart broke a little more. "I must go." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The other man stared at the spot. Some part of his brain knew this conversation occurred daily. The man with soft silver hair--hair he had wanted to touch, cheeks he had been tempted to caress for all of his not knowing him at all--he was kind to return day after day, knowing he wouldn't be remembered. Minato--who didn't really think of himself by the name written on his hospital charts and seemed to feel he should be called Obito or Sakumo or Sensei--he realized perhaps it was a way to gauge his own character, if such a man could remain so devoted.

It was the thought that finally pushed him over the edge. There was always something, and somehow, he knew it as he slid to the floor, to his knees, head hanging in defeat before slumping onto his side.

~*~

The man known as Minato, though he had forgotten it again along with the silver haired man's face and the passage of time, lay in bed with his eyes closed. Instinct told him not to move, and he wondered if it was another part of his old life, these infallible instincts. His body seemed fit, muscled, strong. Though the damage was considerable, he was expected to make a full _physical_ recovery for what good it would do him.

There were voices in his room. The higher pitched was too loud, the deeper one too low, and he found himself alternately straining and cringing at the sound of failed whispering beside the bed.

"He'll remember me this time, I'm sure. How can you not remember your own son!?"

"You know he won't."

"He might!"

"Naruto."

"Sasuke!"

The deeper voice remained silent, the higher one mumbled things under its owner's breath. Minato almost opened his eyes, but paused when the deeper one spoke again, more quietly.

"Are you okay?" There was a tenderness in the tone that hadn't been there before. The other must have nodded because he continued, "Just...making sure." Minato smiled in his 'sleep' and wondered if the boy called Sasuke was the others boyfriend. And that one claimed to be his own son...

"Hey, he's smiling! Must be having a good dream!"

"About Kakashi."

"Nooo, gah! Don't say things like that!"

"You know the kinds of things they do. You walked in on them that one time, didn't you?" The question was laced with amusement.

"But I don't want to think about _that kind of thing_. I mean, they're..." He whispered something that sounded distinctly like 'old.'

At this, Minato sat up. "I'm not old...am I?" He snatched his chart from the table beside the bed. "Forty-five. That's not old."

"It's old." The dark haired boy was scowling, obviously hiding a crooked smile.

The blond--_My son..._--grinned and sat on the edge of the bed, waving a hand in front of Minato's face. "Dad, are you...there?"

"He's not an invalid, dobe," the one called 'Sasuke' said, but he did sit down behind 'Naruto' on the edge of the bed, a discreet hand resting on the young man's hip in offered reassurance.

Minato smiled again, but his eyes drifted toward the door. He was forgetting something important. Many things. "You're my son?"

"Yup!" Naruto bounced a little.

"Then, Kakashi is...your mother?"

Two pairs of eyes stared at the man in the bed.

And stared.

And then one after the other, they broke into laughter. Even Sasuke, whom Minato doubted was prone to laughter, was doubled over and leaning against his companion's back, which only fed Naruto's giggle fit.

Finally, flopping back onto the bed, defeated, Minato muttered, "I'm guessing not."

Naruto gasped a few times, and then forced himself to sober at the tone, looking at his father curiously with the hint of a smile still twisting his lips. "My mother died a long time ago. You know that." He received a slap on the back of the head from Sasuke, but shrugged off the admonishment and put his hand palm-down on the top of Minato's head, moving it, forcing the man to nod exaggeratedly as he reiterated, "You. _Know._ That. Don't you, Dad?"

And Minato desperately wanted it to be true, but when he brought his eyes up to meet the startling blue of the young man's before him, he found he couldn't lie. "I don't. And...I'm really tired now..."

The inevitable blackout a few seconds later cut off Naruto's reply. Sadly, he pulled his hand away and huffed a sigh that ruffled his father's hair. "Come on, Sasuke."

But Sasuke lingered a few seconds after Naruto was gone, discreetly examining the Hokage with his Sharingan and shaking his head.

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Quick **__**A/N:** Sorry this is a little later than expected; real life delayed my final edits. Thanks for your patience and for reading._

_**Summary: **__Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body._

_**Setting: **__Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old._

_**Pairings/Characters: **__NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)_

* * *

**Forget the Sun, pt. 2  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

Tsunade's voice called the room—that is, Naruto—to order with two simple words: "SIT. DOWN."

Naruto found himself suddenly sharing a plush armchair with Sasuke. It was a tight fit, but the Uchiha wasn't complaining, so Naruto didn't mind the closeness. "Aunt Tsunade, I was—"

"I've confirmed your suspicions." Sasuke cut Naruto off, clearing his throat loudly before continuing in the stiff, official reporting tones Naruto had grown so used to over the years: "Just before he loses consciousness, his chakra flares, and then it seems to go out completely. Seconds later, it returns at full strength."

"Hey, what?!" Naruto contorted around to shoot a look at Sasuke who gazed back evenly. "Sasuke...!"

Tsunade leaned up to whisper something beside her former teammate's ear, and Jiraiya nodded once before exiting abruptly out a nearby window.

Surveying the Yondaime's office and its occupants, she crossed her arms over her ample bosom and frowned. "Settle down, gaki." Naruto looked as indomitable as ever, but there was a careworn edge to his every expression. He seemed to be puzzling things out, weighing what he had been told against what was yet to be revealed. The Uchiha was subtly rubbing Naruto's back, so sure no one could see or perhaps simply not caring amongst Naruto's (and thus, his own) extended family. Alone to one side, Kakashi had his hip and shoulder propped against the wall, fondly watching over his _sons_, all of his own worry hidden behind that inscrutable mask.

Tsunade sighed as she dropped down in Minato's chair; the atmosphere was downright oppressive. "I don't know how to fix him, Naruto-kun, but I have a plan to minimize the damage." Naruto was leaning forward in his chair, and she felt a little sorry for him, so desperate for hope. Sasuke was wearing his skeptical look, while Kakashi's sliver of a face was expressionless. With the three of them together like this, little Min-chan's family, she was acutely aware of what was at stake if they should fail to find a more permanent solution than the current plan.

"You aren't going to like it. Min-chan won't like it, either, but as his advisors, Jiraiya and I need to look to the best interests of the village. Simply put, we're left with no alternative—"

A knock at the door interrupted, and moments later, Sakura led Ino into the office. "You summoned us, Tsunade-san?"

"Come in, girls, find a seat." Tsunade steepled her arms and rested her chin on her hands. "Inoichi should be here soon, so we'll wait for the explanations."

"Aw, c'mon!" Naruto whined, and she indulged him with a kind smile.

"Naruto, don't be so impatient." Sakura smiled to soften the words, a miniature version of Tsunade's expression.

Neither really calmed the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach alongside the ramen, dango, and onigiri from lunch. They were talking about his father, didn't they understand that? True, he was a loyal shinobi and the village came first, but right now, that man was his 'chichi,' his dad, and not the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He was beaten and tortured, and he didn't even recognize his own son, so how could Naruto _not_ be impatient to have him back?

Sasuke's hand on his back kept him grounded, but still Naruto practically vibrated with worry and guilt. He wasn't sure where the guilt was coming from, really, but it didn't stop him feeling it. "I just wanna know the plan. It's gotta work!" He smiled brightly, confidently, and nodded, as if to say 'and that's the end of that.'

Sakura and Ino exchanged glances.

They were interrupted from responding by a loud, painful sounding clatter outside the window and Jiraiya poking his head inside. "Did we miss anything?"

Yamanaka Inoichi's head joined Jiraiya's, and he smiled when his eyes settled on his 'sweet little girl, the flower of his life.' "Ino? You, too?" He climbed in, shouldering Jiraiya out of the way with little regard for the man's station, not that Jiraiya minded the casual attitude one bit.

Inoichi took a seat on the opposite end of the long couch and settled his eyes on the slightly worn looking woman seated behind the Hokage's desk. He wasn't an idiot. He had kept up with Shikaku and Chouza just fine all their lives, and the three of them were considered geniuses in their own fields. He had raised Ino alone after her mother died. His eyes traveled to his daughter once more. Two members of the Yamakana clan summoned to the same meeting was rare, but not strange. It did support some of the things he might have heard around the village, and the memory of wispy, hushed gossip made him intensely aware of the one person missing from the room.

Instead of asking one of his many questions—_Where is Minato-sama?, Are the rumors true?, Does this mean we're going to war again and what does that mean for my baby girl?_—he voiced the least intrusive, the one most likely to get him an answer: "May I ask what's going on?"

Tsunade sighed and nodded, her eye catching Kakashi's. She poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the desk and downed it quickly, wishing it was something stronger.

Kakashi pushed off the wall with his shoulder and moved to stand beside the desk where everyone could see him, though he mainly addressed the two Yamanaka clan members settled on the couch. "The Hokage has been...incapacitated." He ignored Ino's gasp, but his knuckles did grow a little whiter.

"It seems he has been affected by a jutsu. It may have been a failed assassination attempt. A joint group of Anbu Intelligence squad members, interrogators, and hunter nin has turned up nothing so far, but they expect some form of evidence to surface any day now. As Ibiki has stated repeatedly, there is no perfect crime.

"As for the Hokage, he is being kept in a secure location out of view of the public. With Akatsuki and Orochimaru making so many appearances nearby, it would be unwise to shake the villagers' confidence in the power of the Hokage to protect them. Minato-_sama_ is alive and physically healing at the expected rate. However," Kakashi paused for emphasis and waited until he was sure he had Ino and Inoichi's fully undivided attention, "His mind seems to have been damaged beyond anything that can be repaired with medical jutsu.

"He suffers daily memory lapses down to forgetting his own name, and he frequently faints without explanation, though it seems to occur most often when trying to remember the things he's forgotten. Sasuke has observed that his chakra seems to flare just before he loses consciousness, momentarily receding before regaining its previous level."

"And that's why you're here," Tsunade broke in, ignoring the look Kakashi gave her. The brat's cold eye and stiff back didn't feel like a threat, more like a subtle plea, and she was momentarily reminded of Kakashi's father—but this was no time for fond remembrances.

Hard, determined eyes settled on the two shinobi on the couch. "The Yamanaka blood limit may be the only thing standing between the Hidden Leaf and war."

_TBC_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Quick Author's Note: **Thanks for all of your reviews! I hope you enjoy my story.  
_

_**Summary: **Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body._

_**Setting: **Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old._

_**Pairings/Characters: **NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)_

* * *

**Forget the Sun, pt. 3  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

_"The Yamanaka blood limit may be the only thing standing between the Hidden Leaf and war."_

Tsunade's words seemed to fill the room, a long, pregnant moment that was ruined by a scandalized Ino shoving her friend in the shoulder. "Sakura! Why didn't you tell me it was this bad??"

Sakura ducked her head in apology, but only once. She wouldn't feel bad for doing her job.

"Because it was classified." Kakashi was leaning nonchalantly against the wall again, and no one had noticed him move. "While Sakura has spent her evenings researching a solution with Tsunade, Sasuke has been tasked with...Naruto."

"Then, how long has this been going on?" Inoichi frowned. "The longer he remains in this state, the chances of a full recovery are..."

Tsunade nodded and ran a finger through the condensation on the outside of her water glass. "I know. That's why we called you here on such short notice. I need your oaths to remain silent on this matter and your signatures on this scroll. Then, we can get started."

He tried again, wondering if she was being purposefully avoidant. "But, Tsunade, how long has it--"

"Oh my god, two weeks!" Ino was suddenly standing, fists clenched at her sides. "Two weeks ago, Shikamaru said Naruto was acting weird. Naruto's always a little weird, so I didn't really worry about it, but it's definitely been at least two weeks."

"Give or take a few days, yeah." Naruto had remained mostly quiet, in itself a bad sign.

"Then may I suggest we go and see the Hokage now?" Inoichi frowned deeper, already standing to join his daughter. "You can explain your plan along the way. Time is not our ally."

~*~

"Hello. Do I know you?" The man in the bed -- he was Sakumo today -- sat up slowly, wide blue eyes tracking the small congregation as they entered and spread out around the room. "I'm sorry, but it seems that I...can't remember..."

Tsunade sat down in the yellowed plastic hospital chair beside him and smoothed the sheets with her palm. "It's all right. We know." When he turned to confirm just who 'we' implied, she subtly ran a hand past his body to gauge his physical healing progress. "We're going to try and help you, Minato."

Inoichi and Ino shared a doubtful look, but the Hokage didn't seem to notice.

In fact, he was looking down at his hands in wonderment. "That's me, then? _Minato_. I thought, maybe..."

"That's you, brat. Now some friends are going to have a look in that head of yours and see what they can do about your memory."

"All right, then..."

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke stood against the far wall, with Sakura nearby for moral support. Sasuke slipped his hand into Naruto's and laced their fingers together, willing the Yamanaka's to be successful for Naruto's sake. When Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, seemingly offering support, the younger man understood and added, _And for Sensei's, as well._

"I'm sorry..." the man in the bed mumbled, unable to find words to express the sense of loss welling up inside of him. He felt ageless, timeless, and set adrift, as if he could float away at any moment, and he was sure he wouldn't know what or whom he was supposed to be missing. Perhaps it would be better that way.

The chair scraped across the floor as Tsunade got up and relinquished it to Inoichi, and moments later, Sakura had brought a second chair over from the window and dropped it behind her friend.

Ino sat and found herself staring across the bed at her father as he placed his hands on Minato's chest. "Lie back, please." The lack of title was awkward, and she could tell he had bitten off the usual _Hokage-sama_ with profound effort. The kind it was going to take to perform their duty. _Duty_, because that's what it was, and she couldn't bear to think of it in any other way. It was a mission for the village, and she began her part with that thought firmly in mind.

It didn't stop her hands shaking, though. This was Minato-sama, after all, not the wrinkled Third or some faceless bureaucrat. It was Naruto's _dad_, who had made them midnight chocolate sundaes when the rookies had sleepovers and bickered with Kakashi over the color of the curtains when he redecorated. He whined about the lack of good ramen in town what with Teuchi-san retiring and Ayame getting married and moving away.

This was...well, damn. Sasuke had been the first crush of most girls their age; the Fourth Hokage nearly always managed a close second. This was blasphemy.

"Ino, if you're not ready--"

"I'm fine, dad. I just needed a minute to prepare." She smiled at her father, but it didn't reach her eyes. Tsunade's plan was as dangerous for them as it was for the Hokage. "Ready when you are."

And then she was falling.

_TBC_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Warnings: **__Still just language._

_**Summary: **__Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body._

_**Setting: **__Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old._

_**Pairings/Characters: **__NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)_

_

* * *

  
_

**Forget the Sun, pt. 4  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

"Ino!!" Sakura jumped forward to catch her friend before she could crack her skull on the floor. Ino was just deadweight in her arms, and when she turned to Inoichi for help, she found him in much the same state, but slumped forward. His head rested comfortably on the mattress beside the Hokage's shoulder.

Tsunade didn't seem distressed, so Sakura wasn't worried, exactly, just concerned. It was obvious they were both using their blood limit to help Minato-sama, after all, and Ino hadn't seemed _too_ nervous...

Then, Naruto suddenly gripped his head and stumbled against Sasuke, screaming, screaming for someone to "STOP IT PLEASE DAMMIT STOP!" The two boys sank to the ground together, and Sasuke pulled Naruto against his chest, whispering unheard words of comfort into his ear.

Still Naruto screamed.

The Hokage started to thrash and convulse in the bed.

And Ino lay lifeless in Sakura's arms.

~*~

Ino was falling into blackness, and this was nothing like she had ever experienced before. All around her there was...nothing. It threatened to consume her. She'd come here for a purpose, a reason—it was very important—and if she couldn't remember...Naruto was going to cry and...th-that was so wrong and...his father would...right.

Straightening up, she marched off into the darkness, reaching out with all her senses to find the one thing that seemed to be eluding the Fourth Hokage himself: his mind. What she found was a golden white light tucked away in a corner. It emitted a faint purple aura, obviously a jutsu of some sort, and when she reached out to take hold, it burned her metaphysical hands. The fact that she could feel pain at all in the mind-realm was something new.

She watched, completely confused, as it retreated back into the corner. When it did, Ino caught sight of a silvery thread attached to it somehow. _This is just like forehead girl told Tsunade!_

She left the light—the Hokage's mind, though obviously bound and hidden, reduced to such a tiny light when it should have been as bright as the sun, she was certain—she left it there in the darkness and followed the glowing thread, her heart beating against her ribs.

And then the thread simply ran out.

Ino raised her eyes from the limp end still clutched in her hand and made a face at the scene before her: she was standing in the center of Naruto's old living room.

~*~

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Yamanaka, I—I'll fucking—"

"Sasuke—!" Kakashi's arms hooked under Sasuke's and around his chest, and he hauled him back from the bedside before he could disrupt the jutsu. A glare thrown over his shoulder at his sensei confirmed that Sasuke's Sharingan were active and spinning wildly, anger and mostly fear contorting his face into a pained, feral expression. Kakashi used his shoulder to nudge his own hitai-ate off to expose Obito's eye, and the hollow sound of the forehead protector clattering to the tile floor seemed to back Sasuke away from the edge of rage.

Naruto lay on the floor, perfectly still now, barely breathing except for the occasional minute rise and fall of his chest. He still looked pained, Sasuke was sure of it. Naruto was in pain and Kakashi was really planning on keeping Sasuke from taking care of the person responsible and ending it. He wanted to turn on Kakashi, fight him, take out his frustrations on something living and real, but he couldn't. He knew, somehow just knew, that his stupid bastard sensei was withdrawing, hiding his own fear. They were both holding their breath. They were both waiting for their precious people to be returned to them.

Tsunade sighed and came over to check Naruto's vital signs, eying Sasuke still locked up in Kakashi's death grip. "They're fine. You'll see, brat. Stop waving those Sharingan around unless you plan to use 'em." She went to the window, secretly chewing her lip and listening for even the faintest sound that would tell her the procedure had been a success.

~*~

Ino shook her head and dropped the glowing thread. This was ridiculous. _Okay, so, I've played this game before with prisoners. And I know Naruto well enough to guess, but Minato-sama...where would he..._ It took six tries before she finally found a folded up piece of paper with a handful of names written on it in varying handwriting. Some she didn't recognize, but she found Team 7 listed there, and Jiraiya-sama, and what she assumed might have been his genin team. There were more than enough precious people listed for her to guess, and she thought it suited Minato-sama, to hide his soul inside such a thing. _He loves them very much,_ she thought, scooping up the paper and gripping it tightly to her chest as she released the jutsu.

She awoke to the view of a dingy white ceiling. "Dad?" Ino scrambled up off the floor, ignoring Sakura's gasp when her knee accidentally caught her friend in the stomach. "Dad—" She leaned across the bed, across the Hokage's body, to trickle chakra into her father's empty body. The signal. It was a success.

Seconds later, Inoichi sat bolt upright, wide eyed and looking rather shaken. "Ready to go again?"

"You bet!" Ino hurried across the room to sit beside Naruto's far-too-still, not-even-breathing-now body and ignored Sasuke to plunge in once again. Her body fell against the wall with a thump to the back of the head.

Inoichi paused before starting the jutsu, eyes leveling on Sasuke and Kakashi across the room. "I suggest you sit down or leave. Your loved ones are in good hands, but we wouldn't want any accidents." He blinked and glared pointedly at Sasuke before going limp beside the Hokage once more, leaving Tsunade to deal with two very angry, very frightened Sharingan users.

_TBC_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Warnings: **__Still just language._

_**Summary: **__Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body._

_**Setting: **__Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old._

_**Pairings/Characters: **__NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)_

_

* * *

  
_

**Forget the Sun, pt. 5  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

Eventually, Tsunade was forced to eject Sasuke and Kakashi from the hospital room and into the sterile corridor. They both spent the next hour alternately glaring at the walls and thinking too much.

Occasionally, Sasuke would mutter something about Naruto not needing to be involved, and how dare they, and what the hell were they doing. He would stomp his foot like a petulant child and huff and then go back to glaring.

Kakashi was quieter, but then that had always been the case. Minato used to complain when he was younger and tease him into conversation, but they had grown to enjoy the companionable silences that sometimes hung between them, comfortable just being together. Now he damned himself for not being able to make proper small talk to distract Sasuke from what he half-suspected was happening on the other side of the door. He had a feeling he knew exactly what they were doing, and while he was almost sure Naruto would take it well enough once he understood, he was just as sure Minato would not. Assuming Minato ever regained enough presence of mind to care.

Sakura came out at some point to sit on one of the cushioned benches, and she watched her teammates with equal parts sympathy and worry while trying to offer some kind of support.

Inside, Tsunade checked the vital signs of the four unconscious shinobi and paced.

Looked out the window.

Paced.

There was little else to be done until the Yamanakas awoke and proclaimed the 'operation' a success, and she didn't want to think about what success entailed just yet. _One problem at a time._

~*~

The inside of Naruto's head was a lot emptier than the last time Ino had tried to enter it. Once before, she had glimpsed the inner tunnels that housed the Kyuubi, and, coupled with Sasuke and Naruto's past descriptions, she had thought she had a rough idea of what to expect. However, instead of a watery sewer-like dungeon, Naruto's mind was as empty as Minato-sama's had been.

She didn't have time to think about why; they were cutting it close. The soul she held clasped to her chest began to shiver and pulse, and she released it as it slowly began to push back the darkness, growing and stretching to fill up the space, the emptiness. She smiled because it really wasn't very different from the man himself, a bright light, a beacon.

Then suddenly there was only blackness, and Ino was completely unprepared for the sudden sensation of being hurled from out of his body like the slamming of a door.

~*~

"Ino, hey..."

_...someone..._

"Ino, wake up now, baby." Her father's voice was extra stern, and like a tow rope, it dragged her back to consciousness. "Don't scare me like that!" He yanked her up to his chest and kissed her head, and only when he'd stopped mumbling soothing words did she notice the silence that surrounded them.

She leaned back to look at her father, trying to remain professional. "What happened? Did it work?"

"Did what work? The fuck...my head hurts, baa-chan." Minato sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes. "Hey, Ino-chan, where's Sasuke? If that bastard got bored and left, I'll--what?"

Ino was staring at him, wide eyed and frozen in place. "Marks..."

"Yo, what's wrong? And why am I in bed now? Hey, Dad?"

"Naruto, no!" But it was too late. Minato..._Naruto_ crawled to the end of the bed, straining his IV leash to peer down at the body lying on the floor. A jounin vest was rolled up and shoved under the man's head and Tsunade sat on the ground beside him, holding his hand. _His_ hand.

That was his own body lying there, except obviously it wasn't. Right?

It took a long moment of scrutiny to figure out why his face looked so _weird_, and when he finally pinned down the difference, he brought slender fingers up to brush his cheek. The whisker-like marks that proclaimed his jinchuuriki status were there, so that couldn't be his body lying on the floor.

"Give me a mirror." No one moved. "Give me a fucking mirror!"

Ino's hands fumbled for her compact, and she tossed it onto the bed within Naruto's reach.

Shaking hands opened it, but Naruto nearly dropped it when he caught sight of his face. His _dad's_ face. "What the HELL?" It was Minato's voice with Naruto's unique inflection, something new altogether. He slapped a hand over his mouth.

"The village needs you," Tsunade said, cold and professional, as if that explained everything. "It was the only way to--"

Naruto dropped his hand—his _dad's_ hand??—and shook his head. "No. Just..." He could feel panic closing in. His soul and its new container were not yet synchronized, and he could feel the fox moving around in there as if trying to get comfortable. Or testing for weak points. He thought he might throw up. "Where's Sasuke?"

As if summoned by his name, Sasuke rushed through the door, immediately dropping to Naruto's side. _On the floor. _

Kakashi followed, but hesitated, his Sharingan scrutinizing the two bodies when something seemed very wrong. Calmly, he walked over to Sasuke, who seemed to just be staring at Naruto's unconscious face, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?!"

"Sasuke, stand up." It was an order; it required immediate compliance.

"What the hell, Kakashi. I--" A glare thrown at the man on the bed stole the retort from his lips as he eyed the whisker-marked cheeks and familiar expression situated on the wrong face. Silently, Sasuke rose from the floor, his Sharingan slipping out at the last minute as he tentatively moved over to the Hokage's bedside. "Naruto...?"

"Yeah, it's me in here." He reached out for Sasuke's hand. The moment of hesitation before Sasuke took it felt like a lifetime.

Across the room, a painfully familiar voice asked, "Where am I? I seem to have forgotten...again..."

_TBC_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Obligatory Author's Note: **I'm really sorry. I posted Chapter 7 in place of Chapter 6, there was a lovely mix up...yeah. So. THE REAL CHAPTER 6, for your viewing pleasure. Thanks to **KakashiKrazed **__for pointing it out!!_

_**Summary: **Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body._

_**Setting: **Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old._

_**Pairings/Characters: **NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)_

* * *

**Forget the Sun, pt. 6  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

"What have you done?" Kakashi didn't raise his voice because he didn't have to. It cut through the other quiet conversation between Sakura and Tsunade without need for hysterics.

The older woman folded her hands in front of her and gestured toward the chairs with her chin. "Sit down, and I'll explain when I return." Then, she turned on her heel, Sakura close behind, and they both stepped outside and closed the door.

Minato in Naruto's body let himself be carefully led to a chair. Kakashi sat down beside him, even if the man didn't remember him. The confused Hokage offered him a shy smile.

Conversely, Naruto in Minato's body hopped back up onto the bed and pressed his shoulders into the pillow. He tugged at Sasuke's sleeve, and again Sasuke hesitated. This time, the hesitation hurt, but Sasuke wasn't looking and missed the pained expression that flashed across Minato's—_Naruto's_ face.

Finally, after a moment of indecision, he climbed up too, and sat with his back against Naruto's bent legs, a familiar position. If he didn't have to look at the body, he could mostly pretend that everything was all right.

Of course, this meant he was watching Naruto's _real_ body, instead, and he couldn't help but notice how amazingly still it was being. He wouldn't have believed it was possible, and this thought set him temporarily at ease. Naruto wasn't in there; Naruto couldn't sit still like _that_ without damn good motivation. His lover was definitely the man beside him on the bed, playing with the hem of the sheet and slowly unraveling it, tapping his feet under the covers, and generally being fidgety until it threatened to drive Sasuke mad.

"You okay, dobe?" he asked quietly as they waited for Tsunade. He didn't look at Naruto, but he didn't flinch when the answer came in Minato's voice, either.

"Yeah. So, what about Dad?" The man inhabiting Naruto's body didn't seem to know it was him they were talking about, and Naruto sighed. "I guess not, then."

Just as Sasuke was going to say something else—what, he never was sure—Tsunade rejoined them without Sakura and locked the door behind her. The functioning shinobi in the room could detect a privacy ward as it slipped into place. Minato definitely noticed something tingling along his spine, despite his chakra being currently unreachable.

"Now, first things first." Tsunade paced as she spoke. "When Min-chan was appointed, he chose us, Jiraiya and myself, to serve as his advisors. Some might have questioned that decision, the council certainly did, but for now, we are what you're stuck with, so deal with it. In case of emergency, we are charged with taking care of the village for him, and that's exactly what we're doing.

"Gaki. You're going to become Hokage sooner than expected."

"What?? That's...I mean...what?" Naruto was shaking his head, his father's longer hair brushing his nose and making him wrinkle it up, only adding to his confused expression. "I don't get it!"

She smiled indulgently, trying to cover over her own doubts. "You're going to pretend to be your father, at least until his condition can be reversed. We will help you, of course. Think of it as a training exercise for the position."

"And the marks on his face?" Sasuke interrupted. He was giving her _that look_, the one that made her wonder if he really did think they were all just about as intelligent as ants.

"He'll wear makeup," she replied tersely, daring Sasuke to find a flaw in the plan. "Sakura can teach him to apply foundation."

Naruto's arms flailed a bit in the bed as he tried to piece it all together. "Makeup, too? I'm supposed to pretend to be my dad while wearing makeup? Wouldn't a henge be more convincing? I could make them disappear, or—Hey, hey! I could use a clone that looks like Dad to—"

"Think, dobe. It would be detectable." Sasuke put a hand on Naruto's knee and tried not to notice the difference in size and shape from the usual. "Makeup won't look suspicious. Well, less suspicious."

Across the room, Sakura knocked and Tsunade admitted her through the warding jutsu.

"I've finished gathering the things you asked for, shishou," she said cheerfully, ignoring Naruto's eyes squinting at her as if trying to see sort out what was in the package in her hand.

"Don't hurt yourself trying to see through solid objects, idiot." Baiting Naruto was too easy. And familiar.

"You! I wasn't…it's just…damn you and your fancy eyes…"

"What will you tell the village?" Kakashi cut-in, ignoring Sakura, as well as the boys who were already bickering between themselves. It was good that they were able to rebound so quickly, he thought, eyes on his own lover—though not his lover anymore, but Minato's son. _Their_ son. "You could say Naruto was in an accident on a mission. A rogue jutsu, and so on. The truth is the easiest lie."

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "The people here in the hospital are going to get too nosy, and I'm not sure how long it will take to find a reversal method. With luck, the culprit responsible for this will be found soon, and he might be able to reverse it himself. In the meantime, we'll need someone to stay with Min-chan at home."

"I volunteer," Kakashi said quietly, but firmly, his tone and expression leaving no room for protest.

Not that that had ever stopped Naruto. "What about missions, though? You can't just quit!" He was pouting with Minato's lips, and it was cute, but it wasn't _right_.

Kakashi brushed his fingers through Minato's hair, ignoring the fact that it was really Naruto's. It was close enough not to matter if he didn't look. He could pretend if Sasuke could. "I retire. Now. Today."

Team 7's members let out a collective sigh, and Sakura spoke for them all when she bluntly announced, "Well, it's about time!"

"Dad needs you," Naruto added quietly. His fists balled up at his sides, and he smacked them down on the mattress. "He needs me, too."

Just like that, Naruto was Naruto again, regardless of whose body he was currently residing in: "I accept! I'll become Hokage!"

The man in the chair who wore Naruto's face watched the proceedings with all the comprehension of a child. He would have to ask the man with silver hair later what exactly the boy—his son?—was agreeing to. It was so frustrating to feel the understanding lingering at the edges of his mind and not be able to latch onto it, but he felt like he could trust 'Kakashi.' At least, he wanted to.

Across the room, Sakura put the parcel she had brought on a bedside table and took one of the extra blankets from the shelf above. She carried it over to the two Yamanaka's huddled against the wall, and spread it over father and daughter. The gentle touch of a healer brushed over each of their brows, and she could see them visibly relax into more restful sleep.

"Thank you," she whispered. With a tired sigh, she bent down to give Ino a gentle one-armed hug before going back to join the small group and start making plans.

Left alone, Ino's head rested on her father's chest, their breathing accompanied by twin snores.

_TBC_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Quick Author's Note: **At the bottom. THIS IS THE REAL CHAPTER 7. If you think you've already read this, go back and read THE REAL CHAPTER 6, which this was accidentally labeled as. Thanks to **KakashiKrazed** for pointing this out!  
_

_**Summary: **Naruto has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become Hokage, but this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to happen. Now, the only thing he wants is to have his father back...and his own body._

_**Setting: **Canonverse - AU timeline, Yondaime survived Kyuubi sealing, Sasuke never left. Team 7 are roughly nineteen years old._

_**Pairings/Characters: **NaruSasu, YonKaka (plus other Rookie 9, Jiraiya, Tsunade throughout series; also, name order is irrelevant)_

**

* * *

**

**Forget the Sun, pt. 7  
by vernajast**

_yondaime x kakashi, naruto x sasuke, others_

~*~

"I'm really...going out _there_...looking like THIS?!" Naruto spun around in front of the mirror in the small bathroom attached to his father's hospital room, admiring himself from various angles.

"The best way to flush out the culprits is to advertise that their target is alive and well." Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door frame. She watched her adopted grandson with unconcealed amusement.

"NARUTO!" Sakura huffed and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to sit still so that she could finish applying his makeup. She quickly drew her hands away when the shoulder under her palm was broader, thicker, more 'adult' than Naruto's. She was manhandling the Hokage's body!

But still…it was Naruto. "Don't move, baka!" Three of the six scars on his cheeks were already covered with makeup foundation, leaving Naruto a bit lopsided

"Fine, fine..." Naruto sighed dramatically and narrowed his eyes at her in the mirror. After a few minutes of boredom, he resigned himself to listening to his partner's deep voice just around the corner, but he couldn't make out what he was saying, so he pretended it was something dirty. When Naruto started giggling and bouncing around again, the fact that he was trapped in his father's body didn't stop Sakura from smacking his arm.

"Stop moving!"

Naruto just flashed a grin. The Hokage's mouth was no longer missing any teeth. It had been strange realizing the Kyuubi was rapidly healing his new body, and it rather amused Naruto that he would be returning it in better condition than when he received it—he _would_ return it because he _wasn't_ getting stuck like this forever…right?

He smiled nervously at Sakura in the mirror, remembering that it had been equally disturbing to understand, intimately, the extent of his father's injuries, and he hoped the man wasn't too embarrassed when they finally switched bodies. Thinking of _where_ he'd been injured and _why_ his father hadn't been able to walk at all the first week (which Naruto hadn't even realized; they'd hidden it that well) sparked a heavy anger deep in his gut, but when he saw his eyes flash red in the mirror, he pushed it down and tried to let it go.

Behind him, Sakura helped by thumping him on the head with her palm and muttering, "Stop making that face."

~*~

While Naruto and Sakura worked on his scars, Kakashi and Sasuke prepared Minato to play the part of his son, supporting the half-truth that Naruto was the one who was being discharged from the hospital to recover at home.

Both men handled the body on the bed with care. Minato had blacked out again—for what, they couldn't say—and he was no longer conscious of their unfamiliar hands touching him, making the process easier to bear for all concerned. Sasuke continually caught himself frowning at Naruto's placid face, and he couldn't help a small stab of jealousy when Kakashi brushed his fingers across Naruto's—_the Hokage's_—forehead.

Bouncing out of the bathroom, Naruto didn't seem to notice Sasuke's mood at all as he pulled up beside him and spun around again and again. "How do I look, Sasuke? I bet I look awesome!"

Sasuke resisted his first impulse to say 'ridiculous' and shrugged. "You look like your dad." He knew Naruto wanted to be Hokage, but this wasn't exactly what either had imagined.

He smoothed the blankets over Naruto's _body_ on the bed; the sight of him lying unconscious and pale under the too white sheets was disconcerting. Then, turning away to face Minato's body, Sasuke's hands came up to adjust the Hokage's hat and straighten his robes. He pulled his chin up to look into those blue-blue eyes, and finally, Sasuke allowed himself to smile.

There was his dobe, hiding behind eyes that were a shade too dark. That determination was the same, and it always would be. Unchangeable.

"It's still you," he said quietly, as if he was surprised, and then Sasuke covered the moment of weakness by adding, "You're smiling too widely, stand up straight, fold your hands behind your back when you're standing still like that—you're making your father look like an idiot."

He waited, knowing what would come next . . . . . .

"Asshole!" Naruto screwed up his face, on the verge of a tantrum

"Tch. Language, _Minato-sama._"

Sasuke's smirk was a relief. Subconsciously, Naruto had feared rejection. He'd been afraid something would change between them. His father's features settled into a familiar, fox-like smile. "Jerk."

Tsunade sighed, eyes straying to Kakashi, who was watching them with more than a little bit of envy, she thought, judging by the small amount of his face that she could actually see. He seemed quieter than usual, withdrawn, and more than anything, lonely.

~*~

In the street, people greeted Naruto by name—

_"Minato-sama!"_

"Yondaime!"

"Hokage-sama!"

It took three jabs in the ribs from Sasuke before Naruto caught on and tried responding as if he were his father. A few odd looks later, he even managed to turn down the volume on his smile.

"Minato-sama, Minato-sama!" A pretty young woman stepped into his path.

Naruto stopped, not wanting to seem rude by stepping around. "What can I do for you?"

"Minato-sama, I'm so sorry to hear about Naruto-kun! You must be so upset!" The woman reached out to push a lock of Naruto's hair out of his eyes, but her hand never made it that far. Her wrist, captured in Sasuke's vice-like grip, dangled in midair.

"Oh, Uchiha-san, I..."

Sasuke dropped her hand, glaring.

"Ha-ha. Oh, Sasuke, it's okay, she didn't mean anything by it. Did you?" He smiled at the girl, who actually seemed more upset by the question. She hurried away, eyes gleaming with welling tears. "Hey, what did I say?" he wondered aloud.

Sasuke shook his head, taking a few steps back to stand behind Naruto and giving him a hard nudge in the back. "She probably thought you would fall into bed with her in your apparent grief." His voice was rough, clipped. He knew the type.

Naruto leaned over to whisper beside his ear, "You jealous, bastard?"

With a flat, blank look, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist and started dragging him toward his office.

Six blessings, three date requests, and dozens of condolences later, Naruto and Sasuke managed to dodge into the Hokage's office and lock the door behind them. Leaning against the heavy doors, Naruto sank down to the floor, shaking his head. "How does he do it? It's like an obstacle course, only...with tits..."

Sasuke remained silent, pretending not to sulk, and wondered how _Kakashi_ handled it every day.

~*~

_Home._

This is home.

The man with the silver hair had told him that when he awoke.

Slowly shuffling up the hallway from the bedroom he had been sleeping in, Minato—more information he could only attribute to his kind companion—gazed at the walls of the corridor and the various photos hanging all over them.

They were instances, moments, captured in a life he couldn't begin to remember.

He watched a child with bright eyes, more often than not attached to a broody looking boy, growing older, taller, as he advanced down the hall. In between, there were photos of his silver-haired caretaker and a man he was told was himself. At least two of the larger frames and a few of the smaller ones were missing, leaving holes between some of the portraits.

Kakashi had gone to make tea, so Minato didn't feel quite as self-conscious about tracing fingers over the photos, over his own face. The pained look in Kakashi's eye the few times he had actually turned to look at him was enough to make him desperately wish to remember, but there was nothing.

"Not nothing," he whispered. In fact, each time he dug for the memories, he could feel something pushing back. A barrier. Kakashi had warned him not to try. He had said he would black out if he pushed too hard, and then he would forget again. But Minato couldn't help it. He _needed_ to know, the same way Kakashi had apparently _needed_ to make tea. They were both grasping for something, anything familiar.

"Minato." Kakashi was standing at the end of the hall. Minato hadn't heard him walk up.

Blunt, tan fingers trailed over the most recent photo of the two of them, Kakashi and his supposed self. "This is...us."

"Yes."

When Kakashi's arm hooked around Minato's waist, he leaned into the taller man's body automatically. His head rested against Kakashi's chest, and he could hear his heartbeat, his breathing. The height difference jarred something in Minato's subconscious, but he didn't know what to make of it, so he pushed it away. While the body swap with his son had been explained, he didn't completely comprehend it, nor the concepts of _chakra_ and _jutsu_. He did understand that being close to the man beside him felt right, and the images hanging on the walls only confirmed it.

Minato turned a little in Kakashi's arms, looking up at him, examining his pointed chin and nose, his mismatched eyes. "Is it strange? This is my son's body."

Something flickered across Kakashi's bare face and he sighed, holding Minato tighter against his chest. "Our son. I'll be fine."

"You're uncomfortable with it though." Really, the man was an open book.

Kakashi shrugged, but the natural way Minato had contradicted him nearly made him hope, and he pressed a very chaste kiss to the top of his head, meant both for Naruto and for the man trapped inside.

_TBC_

* * *

_A/N: If I don't get to it in the proper story, I'll probably include a side piece about the Kyuubi and what happened that night. It's my favorite part of Naruto's history._

_To keep up with status of this story and others, see **my fic stream on twitter - vernajastfics**._

_Sorry this took so long to post. RL delayed me from everything else, and then I thought I'd already posted. *facepalm* I hope you guys liked this chapter; it was nearly double length! Don't expect them all to be this long (though still short by most standards), but I won't stop them if they logically want to keep going. I'm really glad you're reading my story! :)_


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